YMAOYA
by Write1
Summary: Christian sees something on his calendar he knows nothing about. He goes a bit nuts trying to figure it out.


**YMAOYA**

I lean over and give my beautiful, sleeping wife a kiss. She smiles, and mumbles an almost incoherent "have a good meeting," to me. I love what I do and I'm very good at it, but when you deal in international business, you have to be willing to work around time zones- like today. I'm heading to the office for a conference call with London. I'm a morning person but even for me, 3 a.m. is a bit much.

The call goes well, but takes longer than I would have liked. Still, getting what I want at five million less than I was willing to pay is not a bad start to the day. It's 5:30 a.m. now and just the right time to go for a run. Then Claude is coming at 6:15 so I can kick his ass around a while.

So, at 7:30 I am one more corporation larger, with an extra five million left that I thought I would have spent, I'm exercised and feeling smug as I did actually kick Claude's ass around for a little bit, until he stopped dinking around with me and let me have it for real. But it was still one of my better workouts. And, knowing London was going to be so exhausting, I planned today to have nothing else on my schedule until after lunch.

I know Ana will be up by now so I reach for my phone to call and hear her completely coherent, melodic voice tell me good morning. As I reach though, I see my calendar with something I don't remember being there yesterday. My conference call with London is there, but so is, in caps, _YMAOYA_. _What the hell is that?_ It doesn't have a time denoted, so it's not a meeting. There's no CC so it can't be another conference call. There's _nothing_ to tell me what the hell this is. It's just kind of stuck in there like an afterthought.

There must be something about it in the system. I fire up my computer and type in YMAOYA into our corporate search engine. It wouldn't get all the way to me without showing up somewhere in GEH… Nothing. Damn it! Now I'm getting pissed! I hate not knowing what's going on in my own corporation. There is nothing I don't know about, ever! Except today_, what the hell is YMAOYA_?

Andrea won't be in for another half hour which is really pissing me off because she's the only person that could have put this on my schedule, which means she's the only person who knows what this is. Which means I can't really be prepared for it because first, I didn't know about it until today, and secondly, I don't know what it is!

I hate not knowing, and I'm not a patient man. Almost desperately, I type it into Google. There has to be something that would indicate who I'm meeting with, talking with, doodling a picture of… at this point, I'm just about unglued not knowing what it is, or what I'm doing with it/them.

Google is a bust too! The first thing it lists is "Did you mean YAHOO." That's funny. A search engine wondering if I'm looking for another search engine? But then it goes into 'words starting with,' web site analysis, something in Russian I think, but when I get to Japanese anime videos I know it's no use. This YMAOYA is nonexistent.

Now I'm pacing and running my hands through my hair. Someday I'll wake up bald from this nervous habit. I start thinking back to yesterday and all my conversations with Andrea. We must have said something to each other that would point to this YMAOYA thing showing up on my calendar today. I swear it wasn't there when I left yesterday, so she had to have added it after 5:30.

If we're at 5:30 p.m. the business day is done, so it wouldn't be anything farther east. It must have been to our west… Then that would be 3:30 p.m. in Hawaii or 10:30 a.m. today, in Tokyo. Tokyo has Ys and Os. And Google did pull up Japanese anime, so maybe this is something with Japan?

OK, that's got to be it. Japan, or something in the Orient. I do business there… What am I working on there right now?... Nothing new. And if it's old business, it would be in our system… Damn! I'm right back to where I started.

I need to get out of here because I can't just sit around and wait for Andrea. Hang on, I'll just call her and ask. What an idiot! I hit her number on my speed dial and it goes to voicemail?! Shit! Now I have to leave. I'll head down and get something to eat. She should be here when I get back and I'll ream her a new one then!

Taylor follows me down to the restaurant level. I like variety and refused to simply have a cafeteria in my building. "Taylor, did Andrea mention anything being added to my schedule for today, to you?"

"Added? No sir. The conference call with London, your workout, then two other meetings but not until after lunch." Taylor is as stoic as ever.

"Do you know anything about a Y-M-A-O-Y-A? Or maybe it's pronounced Eema Oh-ya?"

"Um, no Sir. Although "Eema Oh-ya" does sound like another language." Yeah, that's what I thought too. "Actually it sounds like Pig Latin, Sir." _Pig Latin?!_ OK, I must just be loopy from getting up so early because I actually try.

"So Eema would be ME, and Oh-ya would be YO… Or maybe yoy. ME YO. ME YOY… Oh my god! I'm actually trying to figure out something from Pig Latin?!" Then I start laughing out loud. "I think maybe I need to go back to sleep." Looking at Taylor, he actually cracks a smile. I'm still laughing when I get my omelet and orange juice. I'm taking it back upstairs with me because Andrea is due any minute. Thinking about dealing with her, quickly sobers my disposition.

As I walk out of the elevator, I see Andrea taking her coat off. As Ana is always noting, my emotions flip instantaneously. I can't seem to control my voice and it's out before I even think about saying it, _**"Andrea! My office! Now!" **_ I open my door, stomp over to my desk, throw my food down and fall into my chair.

"Is something wrong, Mr. Grey?" Andrea is obviously leery of this meeting with me, and I can see in her face that she really has no idea what I could be upset about.

I know I'm steaming. I probably have smoke coming out of my ears by now. "Yes, Andrea, it is. Explain to me how something could be added to my schedule for today without you contacting me about it first."

"Added? Nothing's been added for today, Sir." She really is acting like she has no clue.

"I came in for my call to London, and had specifically cleared my schedule until after lunch. So guess how I was feeling when I see an addition to my schedule, with nothing about when it's happening or even _**what the hell it is?!**__" _ I turn my schedule to her and very forcefully point to that damned YMAOYA bull shit!

She starts timidly, "Um, Sir…" but I cut her off because I'm too hot to stop now.

"There isn't _anything_ in the entire GEH system about this. What is it, and how did it end up on _**MY**_ schedule, Andrea?" I'm looking right at her and can tell I've probably scared the living shit out of her. I haven't been this angry for a long time, and really, it's never been at her. She really is an amazing personal assistant, so what the hell is with this crap today?

"Um. Sir. The reason there isn't anything about this on the system is because it's not business related." She's keeping herself calm, but I can hear a quiver in her voice.

"Not business related? If it's not business, that would mean it's personal. What the hell could be personal about something called YMAOYA, Andrea?"

"Sir, that stands for _You Met Ana One Year Ago_." She cautiously points to my calendar and looks at me with trepidation and fear. I'm kind of in shock here. I stare at it again. Now I see it; _**Y**_ou _**M**_et _**A**_na _**O**_ne _**Y**_ear _**A**_go. Oh my god. I lean onto my desk and drop my face into my hands and the ridiculousness of me trying to find out what this could be…

I start laughing. Damn, I really worked myself up for nothing. Hell, I was even translating Pig Latin! Looking up at Andrea I can see she's not relaxed quite yet. I had to be really frightening but at least I'm not yelling anymore, although her seeing me laugh like this is a rarity! And that makes me laugh more, and I'm sure she's still not quite certain if she's off the hook. "I'm sorry, Andrea. Really, I am so sorry. Seriously? I met Ana a year ago?"

"Yes, Sir. After you started seeing her and the wedding, I went back into the calendar and noted the date she came to do the interview. I thought it may be a day you'd want to be reminded of."

Hell yes! The day I met my wife? The day I see as when my life really started? Yes I want to remember it, and why didn't I think of that myself? Thank God for Andrea!

"Thank you, I definitely do. But why didn't you just write that?"

"I know you let Ana have access to everything and I thought you might want to keep this a surprise for her. She may remember anyway, but my guess is she's not expecting you to. Now you can…"

"…Send her flowers before she calls me about it? You're brilliant!" Calmly I lean back in my chair again and smile.

"I contacted the florist yesterday. I thought _you_ may want to decide exactly what you're sending and what the card should say so I didn't want to place the order until I spoke with you directly. They're expecting you're order today." Now she looks relaxed and as usual, calm and collected as she truly is the one that keeps my world in order.

"You're getting a raise, you know that?"

"Yes. I do. So what are you sending, Sir? Roses?"

I look at the pictures of Ana and me on my desk; her graduation, Coping Together, our wedding photo & honeymoon, and the most recent one of her carrying our child… and I can't believe how much my life has changed in 365 days. I realize I never did make that phone call. I pick up my phone, looking again at the _YMAOYA_ on my calendar, and smile.

"Hey, Babe! Good Morning…. Even better than I expected. What are your plans for lunch today?... Well, now you do… Twelve thirty is fine. Anything _special_ going on today?..." I glance up at Andrea who gives me the raised eyebrow look. "Well, let me know if anything happens… See you for lunch… I love you too." I hang up the phone and look back at Andrea. "No. Not roses. White lilies. Two dozen."

"And the card?"

"Hmmm. How about 'Y-A-I-M-O-Y-A. I love you, C.' _You and I met one year ago_. See how crazy _she_ goes trying to figure it out."

"Consider it done, Sir." Andrea smirks and turns to leave my office. I look out my vast window onto downtown Seattle. It's a great day. It's been 365 great days.


End file.
